I think treating flat earth theory as a rational argument to debunk is appealing, but ultimately unproductive.<p>There was an interesting article some time ago: <a href="https://jameshfisher.com/2019/01/20/my-parents-are-flat-earthers" rel="nofollow">https://jameshfisher.com/2019/01/20/my-parents-are-flat-eart...</a>, which casted the human perspective on the problem: at the root, believing a conspiracy theory gives self-importance to the believer, and it's, in a way, "fun".<p>Considering this perspective, this phenomenon belongs to the class of problems whose easy angle of attack is the technical (rational, in this case), and the difficult one is the human.<p>I'd argue that if one thinks that a flat earther is metaphorically a brick wall, and consequently a fool, opposing technical arguments against it is equally as foolish. It's actually the other side of the coin: yelling arguments to a wall is the mirrored human problem, in my opinion.<p>In conclusion, I think it would be more productive to think more about why this belief is appealing to people (and why it's spreading), rather than proving it's false.
I enjoyed the Netflix documentary Behind the Curve which highlights several of the big people in this community. A lot of the documentary is a comical subtle troll, but it sheds light on how the people in this community are alike by being sort of social outcasts.<p>They’re brought together not necessarily by a strong belief that the Earth is flat (though most in the community strongly believe it, or at least pretend to) but because they were bullied as kids, socially awkward, had a hard time making and keeping friends, etc. From this angle I absolutely see how strong a connection these people might have to others in this community and why it would be hard to say “screw you only friends that I’ve ever had, your theories don’t make scientific sense”. They might lose the only friends they ever had.<p>This somewhat reminds me of the current state of politics. Why counter even a single belief, value, etc. that your echochamber has when they’re probably friends of yours and you know it could change your relationship for the worse (even though I think it’s ridiculous that questioning a political opinion with a well thought out, logically crafted counter opinion could ruin a relationship).
The site is down so I haven't read it, but I suspect many flat earthers are responding to people who have no better reason to believe the Earth is round but lord over them condescendingly.<p>When I ask my university classes for first-hand evidence that the Earth is round, not allowing photographs since we can easily doctor them, nearly zero can answer. Some get angry. Many can't conceive of what might make evidence. Most just insist that's what everyone knows and to suggest otherwise suggests stupidity, ignorance, or support for politics they oppose.<p>Yet rarely can one cite meaningful evidence they've seen or collected, or that others have seen or collected, to show the Earth's shape. They believe what everyone tells them -- effectively majority opinion. How is their believing the Earth is round any different than someone else believing the Earth is flat?
This reminds of David Icke, and his whole theory that extra terrestrial lizard people are running everything. You might be tempted to think this is some sort of metaphor, and in that light, perhaps it makes some amount of sense. But no, he means <i>actual</i> lizard people.
Its hard to enjoy the content when the website:
1) starts autoplaying frickin ads WITH SOUND;
2) asks for notification pop-up;
3) adds additional pop-up for subscribtion;
ALL IN PARALLEL. wtf is happening to the internet?
A large portion of flat Earthers are serious conspiracy theorist who don’t believe in things like the moon landing ever happening and are very anti-government who refuse to believe anything coming from the government and NASA simply because they’re the government. The flat earth society is also a cult that people join to feel like they’re a part of something so they accept to go along with the story and believing in it to remain accepted. There’s a documentary on Netflix called “Behind the Curve” which was kind of interesting.
I'm still sure it's a some kind of joke that last longer than necessary, or mass trolling. I'm probably being too optimistic about people's mind in 21th century
<a href="https://twitter.com/FlatEarthOrg/status/935938769831845888" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/FlatEarthOrg/status/935938769831845888</a><p>At least they seem to be trolling.
I have a friend who believes this and I can’t seem to debunk it for him.<p>Ships get too small to see before the bottom disappears on the horizon. I can’t explain to him why he can see things like bridges that should be below the horizon.<p>I think the simplest proof would be that you see farther when you go higher. On a flat earth you could see tall things from any height.
yes, then there are people like me trolling those idiots. I was surprised how many undergrad's can't answer some tricky scientific questions. I think it's because they are taught to remember facts but many fail to understand the underlying logic in them.
Betteridge Law seems to not apply in this case.<p>Anyway, are people engaging with flat Earthers being serious? Which is worse, being part of a cult X or complaining about X?
People like to think we humans are intelligent and smart, but people like that really shows that we are mostly a pack of stupid apes.<p>That's why I am on team AI.